ISC BMW F30
Since the BMW F30 chassis is becoming more common in the aftermarket automotive industry as a popular platform both on the street and track, we decided to pick one up as our next ISC project car. It’s the first BMW we’ve had here at ISC, so we are excited to utilize it as both a marketing tool, and a product development vehicle for additional ISC BMW products.
The goal for this car is to be a playful street car that is both fun, but also practical. This example is the twin turbo diesel. Plenty of torque, and plenty of miles per gallon. While we did enjoy driving the BRZ in a couple winter days last year, this is definitely a more winter friendly car since this one is equipped with X-Drive. First things first, we will be doing suspension on this car. It will make the biggest difference of turning this business man’s car, to a sporty canyon carver while still remaining comfortable for daily driving and occasional long commutes. While this car sure looks good, we are going to completely transform it. From the front bumper to the rear bumper (and everything in between) we will be giving this car the makeover it deserves.
So stay tuned for updates on this new ISC project car. We will be documenting the process, including step by step ISC install videos, other modifications from industry partners, product development, and some events in between!
NEW F30 PARTS!
To kick off this f30 build, we have some goodies from a couple companies we’ve partnered with. First up is Bimmerworld. They supplied us with a few different parts. They sent over new black kidney grills, rear carbon spoiler, and most importantly, a brand new set of Bimmerworld TA5R Gunmetal wheels! These wheels are super lightweight, strong, and obviously great looking. These will help the car not only look better, but the wider width will give us more traction. Plus, since they are lighter, the rotational mass is much less, making the car lighter, and more agile. Next, we have some suspension bushings from Powerflex USA. These will not only help refresh our tired over 100k mile bushings, these will also be an improvement from the stock ones as well. Making the car a tad more stuff and controllable in the turns. Lastly, Our friends over at Aeroflow Dynamics sent us some sweet side skirts (not pictured in the video). These will tie in the side of the car to the front lip we have. Without the side skirts, the side of the car would look too bland and stock. Lastly, we have our own ISC N1 coilovers for this car. We chose to do the upgraded Triple S Springs for a better ride quality, as well as more spring travel. This car is going to be completely transformed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
F30 Wheel Spacers
Before we put on our new Bimmerworld TA5R wheels, and our Isc N1’s, we decided to fill some of this wheel gap and make the car look less like a grandpa mobile. Stock, the f30 wheels are sunk in so far, it makes the car look like it has skipped leg day for about 10 years. Before we got this car, we didn’t offer F30 spacers, but now after some testing, we will now be offering a few different sizes for the F30! These spacers are made from 6061-T6 aluminum, and come with the highest quality hardware you can get. In this stock setup, we used a 12mm up front, and a 15mm in the rear. These spacers also come with the longer lug bolts so you don’t have to worry about buying them separately. After the install, it looked completely transformed. The wheels are now flush with the fenders, and it makes all the difference.
F30 COILOVER INSTALL
The weakest part of this car, and the main part that made it an old man’s car, is the stock ride height. Not only the height, the handling characteristics were equivalent to if this car had stale jello as suspension. Obviously being a suspension company, we can’t be having that. We need something that not only lowers the car, but handles like it’s on rails with 0 body roll. What’s also nice about our coilovers, is the 32 ebay adjustable damping. This gives us the ability to adjust the ride quality if we want it softer, or stiffer depending what kind of driving we are doing, and just overall dial in the car for the perfect front and rear balance. Installing coilovers on the f30, you’ll need a handful of different socket sizes and wrenches. Having an impact helps too. There are 3 tools that are out of the ordinary you’ll need for this job. You’ll need a BMW strut spreader socket, which spreads the knuckle that the struts sit in. It’s fairly simple to use. You insert it to the gap in the knuckle behind the bottom of the strut. Rotate it 90 degrees, and it’ll spread the knuckle, allowing the strut to be removed. Without this tool, it is just about impossible to remove the front OEM struts. Next is an E18 socket. This star pattern socket will be used to remove the factory strut bar bolt on both sides. The ISC top plates have a spot for this to mount, so keep this socket handy when you go to reassemble everything. Lastly, you’ll also need an E14 socket for removing the 3 bolts on the top of the shock. Overall, the install went smoothly, nothing super strange about this car other than the strut spreader. Everything was straight forward. The rear of the car is like any other divorced coilover setups. To see how this is set up properly, check out the video we have below! It goes over every step of installing these coilovers, and we look forward to continuing dialing in this car, and having a perfect all year round daily driver / spirited driver car. The transformation of this car from last week to now, is incredible. We have now installed the Bimmerworld TA5R wheels, a rear spoiler, front lip, side skirts, and new M style kidney grills. It may not sound like much but it makes the car look much more aggressive, and it drives even better than it looks now!
